Metadata 1

Documentation & Metadata Basics

What is Metadata

What is metadata?

data about data

"Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource" (NISO 2004)

Building blocks of metadata

  • Property/Element/Field: Value
  • Collection of properties called an element set
  • A finite number of elements compose an element set
  • Fields consistent, but values change depending on the data/item being described

Building blocks of metadata

MARC21

  • 00X: Control Fields
  • 01X-09X: Numbers and Code Fields Heading Fields - General Information
  • 1XX: Main Entry Fields
  • 20X-24X: Title and Title-Related Fields
  • 25X-28X: Edition, Imprint, Etc. Fields
  • 3XX: Physical Description, Etc. Fields
  • 4XX: Series Statement Fields
  • 5XX: Note Fields
  • 6XX: Subject Access Fields
  • 70X-75X: Added Entry Fields
  • 76X-78X: Linking Entry and Description Fields
  • 80X-83X: Series Added Entry Fields
  • 841-88X: Holdings, Location, Alternate Graphics, Etc. Fields

Building blocks of metadata

Dublin Core

  • Title
  • Creator
  • Subject
  • Description
  • Publisher
  • Contributor
  • Date
  • Type
  • Format
  • Identifier
  • Source
  • Language
  • Relation
  • Coverage
  • Rights

The record

The properties and value for an object form the record

What does metadata do?

  • Provides access to the digital collection
    • If there was no metadata, how would you find items?
  • Supports information retrieval functions:
    • Searching
    • Browsing
    • Filtering/Faceting
    • Sorting

Search

Browse

Filter/Facet

Sort

Types of metadata

1. Descriptive

2. Structural

3. Administrative

Structural metadata

Metadata Standards

Structure Standards: Element sets

  • Dublin Core
  • MODS
  • VRA Core

Content Standards: How do you input the value?

  • Capitalization rules
  • When to transcribe exactly
  • When to regularize spellings

Value Standards: Controlled vocabularies

  • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
  • MIME type

Encoding and Exchange Standards: How to encode for the computer

  • XML

Metadata Mapping/Crosswalks

Metadata Design

From Miller p. 21

  1. Analyze context, content, and users, and determine functional requirements
  2. Select and develop an element set:
    • A general, cross-collection element set
    • A collection-specific element set
  3. Establish element and database specifications
  4. Establish controlled vocabularies and encoding schemes
  5. Develop content guidelines
  6. DOCUMENT all of this in an applicable profile

Metadata Application Profile

Metadata Application Profile (MAP): your guidelines detailing your metadata design so that you and others can create consistent metadata that enhances access to your collection.

  • Context
    • Many different levels (institutional, professional, geopolitical)
  • Content
    • What is in your collection?
  • Users
    • Who is going to use your collection?
    • What will they likely use it for?

Functional Requirements!

What do your users need to be able to do with your metadata?

Real-life MAP Design: SUCHO

Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) www.sucho.org

SUCHO Internet Archive collection

SUCHO Internet Archive collection

Context, Content, Users

Context

  • Wartime
    • urgency to get initial metadata design quickly so can be immediately applied
    • Physical items in danger of destruction, might lose access to digitized copies
  • Volunteers: Varying levels of experience with metadata/cataloguing
  • Technology: Internet Archive required fields, working within limits of a Google Sheet

Content

  • Many different types of items on any topic imaginable
    • Primarily documents (PDFs) and images (JPGs, PNGs, etc.)

Users

  • Users around the world wanting to browse the collection on Internet Archive
  • Cultural heritage workers in Ukraine whose collections have been archived in our collection

SUCHO Functional Requirements

  1. Disaster preparedness: Metadata should be able to handed back to Ukrainian cultural heritage professionals to recreate/substitute their records if they are destroyed/lost
  2. Browsing: Browse on IA by
    • Media type
    • Publication date
    • Creator
    • Subject
    • Language
  3. Status check: Determine status of metadata creation and any issues
  4. Simplicity: Volunteers creating the metadata are not always catalogers/metadata experts, nor are all of us Ukrainian/Russian speakers!

UCHO Functional Requirements

1. Disaster preparedness

  • Original subject heading
  • Original description
  • Description
  • Source URL
  • Host Institution
  • Host Location

Browsing

  • Subject
  • Creator
  • Date
  • Language

Status check

  • Status
  • Claimed by
  • Comments
  • website available (down/offline?)

Others req'd by IA:

  • Title
  • identifier (automatically assigned)

SUCHO MAP - Step-by-Step

SUCHO MAP - Metadata Template

SUCHO MAP - Reference Table